RAWALPINDI: As many as 115 more dengue cases were reported in Rawalpindi district on Friday, taking the tally of the season to 3955.

A large number of suspected patients arrived in Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and Rawalpindi Teaching Hospital Raja Bazaar from 70 union councils of the city and 20 wards of Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonments.

Officials said 499 patients landed in the three government hospitals and 115 of them were later confirmed as dengue cases.

A total of 219 dengue patients are currently admitted in the hospitals - 35 at HFH, 74 at BBH and 37 at RTH - while the remaining were in Fauji Foundation Hospital, Quaid-i-Azam Hospital and others.

A senior doctor at the HFH said the hospital had sufficient beds to accommodate more patients. He said at present 200 patients were admitted in the three hospitals which had the capacity to accommodate more than 500 patients at a time.

Officials say 499 patients reported to three govt hospitals and 115 of them tested positive for virus

Meanwhile, Secretary Auqaf and Religious Affairs Tahir Raza Bukhari, while presiding over an anti-dengue meeting along with senior officials at the commissioner office said temperature had not decreased significantly even at the last week of October.

“As a result, the environment is very favourable for dengue breeding. We have to carry out anti-dengue activities with the same enthusiasm.” He said that DEN 2 dengue virus had been detected in Rawalpindi this year and most of the patients were those who had been infected with dengue before.

He said that self-medication and late reporting to hospital were the major causes of critical dengue cases. He directed the Auqaf Department to repeatedly emphasise in mosques, especially during Friday sermons that in case of fever citizens should report to hospital immediately.

Apart from this, he said, scholars should stress the importance of cleanliness in their sermons to eliminate larval breeding spots.

Director General Rawalpindi Development Authority Kinza Murtaza, District Health Authority chief Dr Asif Arbab Niazi, HFH Medical Superintendent Dr Ijaz Butt and divisional heads and health department officials were present in the meeting.

In a briefing by the health department, the meeting was informed that 115 confirmed patients had been reported in Rawalpindi district during the last 24 hours, after which the tally of the cases had reached 3955 so far this year. Out of them, 3736 have been discharged after treatment while 219 were under treatment in different hospitals.

Currently, various hospitals have the capacity of 500 beds for dengue patients while the ramp-up plan can take it up to 1000 beds. Moreover, 9,323,330 houses were checked during the indoor vector surveillance from January 1 till date, out of which 69,452 houses turned out to be positive.

Similarly, during outdoor vector surveillance, 2,588,649 spots were checked and 12,660 spots were found to be positive where necessary action was taken.

Violators of dengue SOPs pose a danger not only to themselves but also to people around them. A total of 4,822 FIRs and 3,129 challans were filed and 1,787 buildings sealed in the district since January 1 while a fine of Rs27 million was imposed on the violators.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2024